Three layers combine for 100GB in XL Blu-ray disc

Writable Blu-ray media just got a little bigger. Sharp has announced the world's first triple-layer Blu-ray disc to offer an even 100GB of capacity. The disc conforms to the new BDXL standard, which doubles the storage potential of existing dual-layer discs that top out at 50GB.

Japan will get its hands on the new BDXL discs starting at the end of the month. The press release doesn't reveal when they'll arrive stateside or exactly how much the new discs will cost, though. CrunchGear expects the XL media to sell for $55 apiece, which wouldn't make them all that much more expensive than 50GB dual-layer discs. 25GB BD-Rs are available for as little as $3 on Newegg, but the only 50GB disc listed by the retailer costs a whopping $40. Blu-ray burners remain relatively expensive, as well, and you'll need one that supports the new BDXL standard to be able to write 100GB discs. At the moment, none of the drives listed on Newegg do.

As someone who used to routinely back up files to CD and then DVD, I expected to eventually migrate over to Blu-ray as burner and disc prices fell. Given the low cost and high capacity of today's hard drives, though, it seems unlikely that Blu-ray has a future outside my living room.